"Yes."

"What game?"

"I'll decide."

"Before my friends."

"Before your friends. But I deal only with you."

"Pot sure! Tomorrow, after school. Come to my car."

"Only if you have what I want."

"I'll have it." She walked away. The preliminary deal had been struck.

He would bring the key and she would bring her body. The outcome of the game was uncertain, but if she had to, she would game again for the key after paying off the first game.

The important thing was that he knew what it was and would get it. Darius could have it back.

This was the part Darius might not understand. He had odd notions about honor and chastity. If she had to give her body to a lout like Biff to win back the key -- well, she had a ploy she hoped would avoid that.

IN the afternoon she was in a daze. She went through classes mechanically. She would get the key -- but would that really solve anything? For she simply did not believe in that alternate universe of his. If she gave him the key, what could he do except prove that it didn't work? Then his fantasy would

be exposed, and a major part of his appeal for her would be diminished. As long as he lacked that key, he was the King of Laughter from an alien reality. With it, he might be only a deluded refugee from some mental hospital.

Why was she risking so much, for such likely disappoint -- ment?

Maybe she had been fooling herself. She remainded as suicidal as ever. She had merely found a new way to flirt with death. Because if she lost the game, and Biff had his way with her for a week, she might as well die. Maybe the key was just a pretext. Maybe her love for Darius was just a pretext.

No!

The teacher paused. "A problem, Colene?"

Her pain had shown on her face. "I'm better. Miss Grum -- man, honest! Maybe I ate too fast."

The teacher let it pass. Colene suppressed her thoughts and paid better attention in class. It was a fair deal.

But on the way home that question resumed. She hardly responded to Julie's chatter. Was she making a mistake? Was she about to torpedo her dream? For even if the illusion didn't end for Darius, it would for her.

Back home, she hurried to the shed. "Oh, Colene, I am so glad to see you!" Darius exclaimed, embracing her. "I feared I would not."

"I have made a deal to recover your key," she said. "To -- morrow."

He stared at her. "You really can recover it?"

"The punks who mugged you couldn't fence it. They thought it was just a fancy slug. I can get it."

"You can buy it?" He had had trouble with the concept of money, but understood it reasonably well now.

"I asked you not to ask."

He was silent. She kissed him, and it was good.